Paola Pivi

Born in Italy in 1971, Paola Pivi’s artistic practice is diverse and enigmatic.


For Pivi, art is an expression of reality liberated to its fullest potential, conveying the most profound emotions through diverse materials. Her art often features recognisable objects like airplanes, polar bears, and pearls. However, Pivi modifies these objects unexpectedly, encouraging her audience to reconsider their preconceived notions of what they represent. Through this approach, she creates a unique form of utopian extravagance, continuously exploring new expressive forms and pushing the boundaries of artistic creation.


One of Pivi's most captivating series is her Pearls artworks. Accumulation of lines of pearls, these paintings decline a nuancier of colors going from the ivory to the black whose declinations of tints celebrate the various colors of the skin. To realize them, Pivi appropriated the result of the “work” of a multitude of oysters. She has also seized on the similarity between the painter’s work on a canvas and the action of an oyster that deposits layer after layer of nacre on the pearl.


Pivi's art is a statement on the human experience, exploring the boundaries between reality and imagination, ordinary and extraordinary.

Paola pivi ph lady tarin 2

Biography

Solo exhibitions
Year
Country, Exhibition Name, Location
2025
IT, A helicopter upside down, San Carlo Cremona, Cremona
2024
I, We are the baby gang, Les maisons de Judith, Courmayeur
GR, I wish I am fish, Ama House, Spetses Island
I, We are the baby gang, Les Maisons de Judith, Val Ferrat Courmayer
CDN, Come check it out, Calgary Contemporary, Calgary
GR, I wish I am fish, Ama House, Spetses Island
2023
F, Paola Pivi – It's not my job, it's your job / Ce n’est pas mon travail, c'est votre travail, Musée d'Art Contemporain, Marseiile
F, Paola Pivi – It's not my job, it's your job. Ce n’est pas mon travail, c'est votre travail, Musée d'Art Contemporain, Marseiile
2022
USA, You Know Who I Am Curated by Cecilia Alemanni, High Line Line commission, New York
USA, Free Land Scape, Galerie Perrotin, New York
F, It's me, MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris
F, It's me, MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris
USA, I Want it All Curated by Jose Carlos Diaz, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburg
USA, You Know Who I Am Curated by Cecilia Alemanni, High Line Line commission, New York
2021
PRC, Why Not?, MASSIMODECARLO, Hong Kong
F, Paola Pivi. 25,000 Covid Jokes (It's Not A Joke), Chapelle de La Vieille Charité, Marseille
I, Rock the art, Paradiso Terrestre, Bologna
I, Red Carpet - Stop by, Paola Pivi, Art Verona, Verona
USA, Paola Pivi, ARIA Resort & Casino, Las Vegas
USA, Lies Lies Lies, Anchorage Museum, Anchorage
USA, Art in Unexpected Places Curated by Peter Doroshenko, Aspen Skiing Company, Aspen and Snowmass
USA, Paola Pivi: Bear like me, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen
USA, We are the baby gang, Aria Hotel, Las Vegas
PRC, Why Not?, MASSIMODECARLO, Hong Kong
IT, Rock the art, Paradisoterrestre, Bologna
2020
D, We are the Alaskan tourists, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Skovvej
2019
KR, Paola Pivi, stand of Massimo De Carlo Curated by Hou Hanru, KIAF ART SEOUL, Seoul
USA, We are the baby gang, Perrotin, New York
I, Paola Pivi. World Record Curated by You Hanru, Anne Palopoli, MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Roma
I, Paola Pivi, Museo del Novecento, Milano
2018
USA, I did it again Curated by Storm Janse van Rensburg, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah
USA, Art with a View, The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach
Group exhibitions
Year
Country, Exhibition Name, Location
2025
KR, Cabinets of Curiosities, Perrotin Seoul, Seoul
IT, DA CINDY SHERMAN A FRANCESCO VEZZOLI. 80 artisti contemporanei, Curated by Daniele Fenaroli, Palazzo Reale , Milano
IT, Le ferite di Milano. Come l’arte può ricucire la storia Curated by Spazio Taverna, Triennale di Milano, Milano
2024
DE, Eccentric; Aesthetics of freedom Curated by Eva Karcher and Bernhart Schwenk, Pinakothek del Moderne, Munich
CN, Nanhai Art Biennale Outline 2024 Curated by Hubart, Nanhai, Nanhai
IT, Facile ironia. L’ironia nell’arte italiana tra XX e XXI secolo, MAMbo, Bologna
IT, Mostra Arte e Design. Design è Arte, MA*GA, Gallarate
FR, Panorama, Perrotin Paris, Paris
IT, Expanded With Curated by Marcella Beccaria, Castello di Rivoli, Torino
F, Italie, MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris
D, ECCENTRIC AESTHETICS OF FREEDOM, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
IT, Happy Birthday Castello di Rivoli! 40 anni… e oltre, Castello di Rivoli , Rivoli
F, Italie, MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris
ROK, A Drawing A Day, MASSIMODECARLO Seoul Studio, Seoul
IT, TALIA 70 – I Nuovi Mostri Curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Milano
2023
KOR, Zero, Ten, Perrotin Seoul, Seoul
I, Reaching for the Stars, Da Maurizio Cattelan a Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Curated by Arturo Galansino, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze
PRC, I fell the way you feel Curated by Zhou Yi, Perrotin, Shangai
IND, The Great Void Curated by Davide Quadrio, Italian Cultural Centre, New Delhi
USA, Think Pinker Curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody, Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles
E, Imaginary Friends, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona
IT, The Gemma De Angelis Testa Donation, Ca’ Pesaro - International Gallery of Modern Art, Venezia
FR, Just Phriends Curated by in partnership with Sarah Andelman, PERROTIN 8 MATIGNON, Paris
H, The Cuteness Factor, Ludwig Museum, Budapest
2022
I, L'esca, MACTE, Termoli
PRC, The First Beijing Biennial 展览名称: 第一届北京艺术双年展, National Base for International Cultural Trade, Beijing
I, La casa nella casa. Omaggio a Dino Glavina, ADI Design Museum, Milano
F, Serpent Cosmique Curated by Fabrice Cousteau, Musée de L’Hospice Comtesse, Lille
I, Il Grande Vuoto Curated by Davide Quadrio, MAO, Torino
I, Vita nova: arte in Italia alla luce del nuovo millennio Curated by Andrea Bruciati, Villa d’Este, Tivoli
I, ES-SENZE, Museo di Palazzo Mocenigo, Venice
USA, Actual Size! Photography at Life Scale Curated by David Campany, ICP, New York

Bibliography

Year
Author, Publication Title, Date
2021
Bortolazzo, Alice, Exibart, March 23,
Airoldi, Silvia, Elle Decor, May
Vergine, Antongiulio, ATPdiary, May 3,
2020
Arte, 12 September
Artdaily.com, 21 September
Quattordio, Alessandro, Artribune, 25 September
2019
Kunitz, Jorge, Tendencias del Mercado del Arte, May
Pivi, Paola, Frieze, June/July
Ago, Roberto, Artribune, September 26
Celant, Germano, Interni
Buglioni, Maila, Segno, June/July
Belfiori, Giulia, Estetika, June 5
Tonelli, Marco, Arte, April
Giansoldati, Franca, Il Messaggero, May 13
Cascone, Sarah, Artnet, April
Frieze Magazine, June/July/August
2018
Martinez, Nicole, Cultured, November
Artnet, December
E-flux, December
Design Boom, December
Rinaldi, Costanza, Living Corriere, December
Johnson, Grant, Garage, December
Sokol, Brett, The New York Times, December
Haigney, Sophie, The New York Times, December
2017
Nastro, Santa, Artribune
Farinotti, Rossella, Zero
Devi, Nirmala, Art Review Asia, October
Paiato, Maria Letizia, Segno, December
2016
Whitewaller, April
ARTFORUM, April
Interview Magazine, 26 April
Rai Cultura, May

Public collections

Country
Location
Australia
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
France
Centre National d'art et de la culture Georges Pompidou, Paris
Collection Vedovi, Paris
Germany
Collection Haubrok, Dusseldorf
Deutsche Bank Collection, Frankfurt
Hong Kong
K11 Foundation Collection
Italy
Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Torino
Collezione Consolandi, Milano
Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milano
MACRO - Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma, Roma
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino
Galleria Internazionale D'Arte Moderna "Cà Pesaro”, Venezia
MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna, Bologna
United States of America
The Bass Museum, Miami
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Downloads

Type
Title
CV
Paola Pivi